Mpumalanga Tourist AttractionsThe Lowveld Botanical Garden

One of the main reasons to visit Nelspruit, the Lowveld National Botanical Garden lies just outside of town, a beautiful 159 hectare space dominated by rugged, rocky river scenery, and home to over 600 naturally occurring plant species, and a further 2000 that have been introduced to the garden.

Where? Off White River Road in Nelspruit (Mbombela), Mpumalanga

When? September to March from 08h00 to 18h00.
April to August from 08h00 to 17h00.

The Lowveld Botanical Garden is all about the two rivers that run through it; that fashion the garden with a unique quality of its own.

The Crocodile River enters the garden with a tremendous rush, gushing through a narrow, pot-holed solid rock gorge, whilst its counterpart, the Nels River, cascades down a waterfall from the west - the two content to merge in a somewhat more gentle pool. The river banks are dominated by evergreen forest belts, and the eastern bank of the Crocodile River is a tropical African rainforest, representative of the rapidly diminishing rain forests in central and west Africa, and a world first for the Lowveld Garden.

Aside from this, the Lowveld Botanical Garden is alive with trees and creates a wonderful haven for visitors. Around 650 tree species indigenous to South Africa dominate the garden, interspersed with ancient cycads and a variety of shrubs. The garden is dominated by a vegetation type known as Sour Lowveld Bushveld that is a link between the true Lowveld and the escarpment, due mainly to the garden’s altitude.

There is rarely a dramatic contrast between winter and summer on the Lowveld because of the evergreen nature of trees and shrubs, especially in the riparian zones on the banks of the two rivers.

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